Building Definitions

Building DefinitionsFrank PulumbaritTuesday September 6th, 2016Monday October 16th, 2017

Building Definitions

Office

To be eligible for this module 75% of the building’s use must meet the Office Module definitions listed below (25% can be dedicated to other usage). The building’s floor area must be greater than 5,000 square feet.

Financial Office: Buildings used for financial services such as bank headquarters and securities and brokerage firms.

Buildings that meet the definition for the Office Module but not the minimum size requirement must use the Universal Module. Veterinary Offices must use the Universal Module. Medical Offices must use the Health Care Module.

Enclosed Shopping Centres

To be eligible for this module 75% of the building’s use must meet the Enclosed Shopping Centre Module definition listed below (25% can be dedicated to other usage).

Enclosed Shopping Centre:Refers to a retail property that is planned, built, owned and managed as a single entity, comprising commercial rental units (CRU) and common areas, with a minimum size of 10,000 square feet ( GLA) and a minimum of three CRUs. On-site parking is also generally provided.

Enclosed Shopping Centre types include but are not limited to:

Regional Mall: The GLA for this centre varies between 300,000 and 799,999 square feet. Its main attraction is generally the combination of anchors. A regional centre is usually enclosed with an inward orientation of the stores connected by common areas/walkways or “malls”, flanked on one or both sides by various entrances. It could be multi-leveled with escalators, stairs and elevators between levels. Off-street paved parking surrounds the outside perimeter. It may be surface or structured and there may be outparcels or pad store locations.

Super-Regional Mall: Centre similar to a regional mall, but larger in size (GLA over 800,000 square feet), and with a more extensive offering of anchors and/or destination retailers. Super-regional malls are often situated on mass transit lines (e.g. subway, LRT, bus) and along major highway corridors.

Open Air Retail

To be eligible for this module 75% of the building’s use must meet the Open Air Retail Module definition listed below (25% can be dedicated to other usage).

Open-Air Retail:Refers to configurations where there is no indoor common space, and stores may be unconnected or attached in a strip or row type of fashion. This type of property may also be called a Strip Mall.

Open Air Retail types include but are not limited to:

Community Centre (a.k.a. strip centre): These centres are basically a cluster of attached retail units that can be open-air and/or enclosed with significant off-street paved parking surrounding the building that can be accessed in most cases from two or more sides. They could be outdoor developments with walkways or enclosed developments with connecting corridors.

Convenience Centre: Usually between 10,000 and 39,999 square feet (Gross Leasable Area or GLA) where tenants provide a narrow mix of goods and personal services to a very limited trade area, including walk-in traffic. A typical anchor would be a convenience store such as 7-Eleven, Mac’s Convenience, Couche-Tard or other mini-mart. Open canopies may connect the store fronts, but a convenience centre does not have enclosed walkways linking the stores.

Neighbourhood Centre/Lifestyle Centre: Usually between 40,000 and 99,999 square feet (GLA) and is designed to provide convenience shopping for the daily needs of consumers in the immediate neighbourhood. It is typically anchored by a supermarket.

Power Centre: Usually between 100,000 and 1,000,000 square feet (GLA) and often comprises three or more large-format retailers (“big boxes” or “category-dominant anchors”) that are mostly freestanding (unconnected) or sometimes part of a number of scattered multi-tenant one-level buildings on the same property to offer maximum visibility to most retail units. As with other open-air centres, ample on-site paved parking is located in front of the stores and around the site at the ground level. The large land element provides for an interior road network that connects all the individual sites and allows the customers to drive from storefront to storefront.

Light Industrial (Workshops and Warehouses)

To be eligible for this module 75% of the building’s use must meet the Light Industrial Module definition listed below (25% can be dedicated to other usage).

Industrial Building: A facility in which the space is used primarily for research, development, service, production, storage or distribution of goods and which may also include some office space (no more than 25% of the space can be dedicated to office usage).

Manufacturing/Industrial Plant:A facility used for the conversion, fabrication and/or assembly of raw or partly wrought materials into products/goods.

Warehouse (refrigerated or non-refrigerated):A facility primarily used for the storage and/or distribution of materials, goods, and merchandise.

Distribution Centre: Refers to unrefrigerated buildings that are used for the temporary storage and redistribution of goods, manufactured products, merchandise or raw materials.

Multi-Unit Residential Buildings (MURBs)

To be eligible for this module 75% of the building’s use must meet the Multi-Unit Residential Building Module definition listed below (25% can be dedicated to other usage).

Multi-Unit Residential Building (MURB): A building comprised of a common entrance and separate units that are also known as apartments constructed for dwelling purposes. Multi-Unit Residential Buildings must have one primary exterior door access, with each of the apartments connected by an interior door. All of the units must connect to each other (or a central corridor) by some interior door for purposes of a blower door test.

Categories for MURBs include:

Low Rise (2 to 3) – the building must comprise a minimum of two (2) floors above ground, and four (4) apartment (dwelling) units.

Mid Rise (4 to 9).

High Rise (10 +).

This definition applies only to multifamily housing. Buildings that meet the definition for a Hotel, Residence Hall/Dormitory Senior Care Community, Single Family Home, or other type of lodging or residential facility must use the Universal Module (definitions from Energy Star Portfolio Manager).

Health Care Facilities

To be eligible for this module 75% of the building’s use must meet the Health Care Module definitions listed below (25% can be dedicated to other usage).

More than 50% of the gross floor area of all buildings must be used for general medical and surgical services; AND

More than 50% of the licensed beds must provide acute care services; AND

These facilities must operate on a 24/7 basis.

Facilities that use more than 50% of the gross floor area for long-term care, skilled nursing, specialty care, and/or ambulatory surgical centers OR that have less than 50% of their beds licensed for acute care services are not considered eligible hospitals under this definition.

Medical Office Building: A Medical Office Building designation applies to buildings that meet the following requirements:

More than 50% of total facility space is used primarily to provide diagnosis and treatment (no major surgery) for medical, dental, or psychiatric outpatient care;

These facilities do not operate on a 24/7 basis.

Long term care facilities (include residential care and outpatient rehabilitation/physical therapy): Also called “acute inpatient health care facilities”, these facilities are certified as acute care hospitals and provide patients with acute care for extended inpatient stays of an average of 25 days or more.

A Long Term Care facility designation applies to buildings that meet the following requirements:

More than 50% of the total facility space is used primarily for long term acute care, cancer care, rehabilitation, and/or psychiatric care;

These facilities operate on a 24/7 basis.

Facilities where more than 50% of the space is not dedicated to long term acute care, such as retirement homes or assisted living facilities, are not considered eligible under this definition.

Universal

The Universal Building Module was developed to cover a range of facilities that fall under a variety of building types. There are no use restrictions or size restrictions applicable to the selection of the Universal Module.

A Universal Building may be any one (or a combination of) the following building types: